After win No. 1 Schuyler County now gets to deal with Milan

A couple of this week’s games feature teams that are entering the stretch run of the season in similar situations. Milan and Schuyler County isn’t one of those games.

The Rams come in riding high after their first win of the season against North Shelby and saw Zach Schmitter turn in the offensive performance of the season.

Milan comes into Week 7 just as if it were any other week. The Wildcats dispatched of the upstart Scotland County last week and are all but assured of winning the Tri-Rivers again this season.

“It's always good to get a win and I think it will ease the pressure off the kids some and allow them to just go out and play good football,” said Schuyler County head coach Nick Wooldrick.

Milan isn’t down playing this week’s contest, but looking at it more as the same song different verse.

“We just have to come out and do what we do. We have to block and tackle and whoever can execute the fundamentals better will likely be in position to win the game,” said Milan head coach John Dabney.

On offense the Rams are looking to ride Schmitter, who carried the ball over 40 times last week. Wooldrick knows the Wildcats will be keying his senior running back, but he doesn’t seem too worried.

“Don’t worry we will find plenty of ways to get Zach the ball,” said Wooldrick.

Dabney knows that Schmitter will be the focus of the Rams attack.

“He has been a good athlete for a number of years for them, it’s not like he is just having a good game or two. We know they want to get him the ball and we just have to be ready to defend it,” said Dabney.

The Wildcats will test the Rams with their ground game just like they do every other team on the schedule. If SC can limit the gains by Aaron Richardson and Kevin DeRyke, as well as control the clock with Schmitter, that will go a long way to determining if the Rams can pull the upset.

“If we are going to be able to keep this game close we will need to be able to run the football and set up the play-action pass. If we can control the time of possession of this game we will give ourselves a great chance at the victory,” said Wooldrick.

One area that the Rams have an advantage in is that they have seen this type of size, speed, and talent many times this season facing Marceline, Salisbury and Westran in three consecutive weeks.

“Playing the teams we have this year does help us going into this game. Milan is a good football team and we will have to play our best game of the year to be able to compete with them,” said Wooldrick.

The Rams and Wildcats will get underway Friday night at 7 in Queen City.